CPAWS and Nature Canada celebrate a major achievement today for Rouge National Urban Park- Bill C-18 received Royal Assent from the Governor General. The law means ecological integrity will be the first priority in management of Rouge National Urban Park. It meets a key request from leading conservation groups in Canada that the federal government prioritize nature conservation in law for the park.

OTTAWA – The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) congratulates the federal government on completing the designation process for St. Anns Bank Marine Protected Area. “CPAWS is pleased to see the Government of Canada continuing to take significant steps toward achieving its ambitious marine conservation targets, and in doing so, fulfilling our international commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity,” said Sabine Jessen, National Director, CPAWS Ocean Program.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) welcomes today’s announcement of a National Advisory Panel to provide recommendations to governments on how Canada can achieve our commitment under the International Convention on Biological Diversity to protect at least 17% of our landscape by 2020. Canada currently sits at 10.3% protection, thus significant work remains to be done.

(Vancouver, BC – 24th May 2017) The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) cautiously welcomes the announcement of a potential new large marine protected area off the West Coast of Vancouver Island. “Today, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) revealed an area of interest for a new marine protected area that covers 140,000 km2, making it the largest ever proposed marine protected area on BC’s coast,” said Sabine Jessen, CPAWS’ National Ocean Program Director.

WWF-Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) are honoured to announce that selfless conservation advocate Anne Sherrod, 70, of New Denver, B.C., is the winner of the inaugural $10,000 Glen Davis Conservation Leadership Prize for decades spent protecting the natural riches of the province.

CPAWS welcomes the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development’s report on protected areas, tabled today in the House of Commons, that makes sweeping recommendations to the federal government to expand and improve Canada’s protected areas networks to reverse the declining health of our country’s ecosystems.